Not even Stephen King’s infamous Carrie could douse the box office fire that is Warner Bros.’ 3D phenom “Gravity,” as it topped its third straight domestic frame with an estimated $31 million (down only 28%), crushing the Sony-Screen Gems-MGM horror remake, which underperformed grossing just $17 million through Sunday.

So far, “Gravity” has amassed a stellar $170.6 million domestically, of which Imax has contributed more than 22%, with $38 million. Premium formats, particularly Imax, have become a major selling point for “Gravity,” lifting its playability.

Internationally, “Gravity” also won its third consecutive B.O. victory, estimating $33.5 million from 51 markets. Mexico — the home country of director Alfonso Cuaron — was the standout debut territory for the film this weekend, with $5.7 million locally. The debut now is the largest opening in Mexico for Cuaron, surpassing “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”

The Stateside underperformance of “Carrie” highlights just how broadly “Gravity” is playing now, especially with teens and young adults. The horror remake was predicted to gross, at least, $18 million through Sunday, though most observers pegged the pic to land at north of $20 million.

“Carrie” skewed 56% under 25, with women contributing 54% of the gross.

“While, of course, we would have liked more, ‘Carrie’ was made for a budget and certainly played within our expectations,” said Sony president of worldwide distribution Rory Bruer. The film cost less than $30 million to produce.

Falling in line with expectations was Lionsgate-Summit’s Sylvester Stallone-Arnold Schwarzenegger action pic “Escape Plan,” which estimated $9.8 million in three days.

Disney-DreamWorks’ WikiLeaks drama “The Fifth Estate” made the wrong kind of noise this weekend, landing with a hollow thud: The film grossed a dismal $1.7 million from 1,769 locations, a complete departure from the limited release that Disney originally had planned for the film.

“We’re certainly disappointed by the results,” noted Disney distribution head Dave Hollis, “and we’re still trying to figure out the ‘whys’.”

In comparison to “Fifth Estate,” which not surprisingly played best on the coasts but fell flat nearly everywhere else, Fox Searchlight’s “Enough Said” — in its fifth week — collected $1.8 million from only 757 locations, up from just 606 last weekend.

Fox Searchlight had another reason to be happy this weekend, as the intense slavery drama “12 Years a Slave,” which Searchlight is marketing and distributing for producer New Regency, successfully found an audience, averaging more than $50,000 per screen, with an estimated $960,000 three-day total. Pic’s per-screen average is a solid figure given the tough subject matter and its 19 locations, though Searchlight will have to work (and spend) to maintain the film’s momentum.

Also opening in limited release, Roadside Attractions’ one-man show “All Is Lost,” starring Robert Redford, estimated $16,225 per screen from six theaters. Roadside is rolling out the film slowly, adding just 15 U.S. markets on Friday.

With the weekend’s wide entries mostly underperforming, the holdovers, including “Gravity” and Sony’s “Captain Phillips,” which ranked second overall with $17.3 million, were left to carry the slack. Total box office was down nearly 20% from this time last year.

The Tom Hanks real-life depiction “Captain Phillips” dropped a limited 33% in its second frame, boosting the film’s domestic cume to $53.3 million. Internationally, “Captain Phillips” debuted with $9.1 million from 11 markets, led by the U.K., where it grossed $5.6 million (including previews).

Elsewhere overseas, Sony’s release of Russian pic “Stalingrad” continued its boffo run in that country, where the film has grossed more than $33 million in two weeks. “Stalingrad,” which has sizable support from Imax locally, is on track to becoming the largest-grossing local language film ever in Russia.

Fox’s “The Woverine” is the latest film to get the coveted B.O. boost from China, bowing there with $13.6 million and bringing the film’s total international tally to nearly $260 million. Globally, “Wolverine” has cumed more than $390 million.

The special xfx were awesome that was the high point of the movie. I thought that Bullock’s performance was a copy of Sigourney Weaver’s “Ripley” from “Alien/Aliens.” the performance and dialogue between Clooney and Bullock was laughable at best. Kudos to the marketing and promotions–you were able to draw ticket buyers into a almost boring movie.

I actually think Carrie was due an update because its very relevant to today with social media and bullying of schoolkids. Theres a lot there to work with unlike other horror classics that are straight up slasher films or gorefests. It still has Halloween audiences so should eventually make decent profit even if its not getting amazing reviews. 12 years a slave doing well at nearly $1mill for just 19 locations.

Wow really another remake of a horror classic. Come on Hollywood there has to be SOME original screenplays out there that middle class AMERICAN’S would like. And as for Carrie, been there, did that, had the T-shirt and donated it to Goodwill now let’s move on to originality, please!